Frank Hall’s Window to Japan

 By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

Although few today remember his name, an Elmiran named Frank Hall was instrumental in shaping 19^th century America’s image of Japan. In 1639, Japan’s ruling shogunate closed the country to all foreigners except for a select group of Chinese and Dutch traders. By the mid-1800s, the United States decided that really didn’t work for them and so, in 1853, the president dispatched Commodore Matthew Perry to Tokyo to force the country open with a little gunboat diplomacy. Between 1854 and 1858, the United States and Japan signed a series of treaties opening Japanese ports to American citizens. Under the treaties, Americans could not only dock in 6 Japanese ports, they could live there indefinitely, own and lease property, erect buildings, practice their own religion, and avoid prosecution in Japanese courts. The result was a massive influx in American tourists, missionaries, and businessmen.

Enter Francis “Frank” Hall. Born in Ellington, Connecticut in 1822, Hall had come to Elmira in 1842 at age 19 with a wagon load of books and a dream. It took him a few years to get off the ground but, by 1845, Hall’s bookstore was a staple of the community and the hangout for the village’s intellectual set. Hall quickly became attached to Elmira. He invited several of his brothers to join him in business, married a local girl (who tragically died), and was elected to public office. He was a driving force behind the creation of Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira College, and Elmira Free Academy, and helped to bring the Lyceum lecture circuit to the village. 

Francis "Frank" Hall, 1822-1902

 

In 1859, he sold his store to his brothers Frederic and Charles, and headed for Japan. One of his dear friends, R.S. Brown, was heading to Japan as a missionary and asked Hall to join him on the voyage. In order to support himself in his travels, Hall took a position as Japan correspondent for the New York Tribune. Hall arrived at Yokohama, Japan on November 1, 1859. For the next six years, his 70 plus articles in the New York Tribune, Elmira Weekly Advertiser, and Home Journal would provide American readers with a window to a country few of them would ever get to visit.

Hall’s time in Japan was one of the most tumultuous periods in the country’s history. Uncontrolled foreign trade resulted hyper-inflation and the collapse of Japan’s gold standard system. Conflict between the shogun and the daimyos, or Japan’s noble class, resulted in multiple assassinations and four different armed rebellions. Even though the United States was in the midst of its own civil war, Hall’s monthly articles describing this political and economic turmoil received both a surprising amount of space and prominent placement. His coverage of the naval battle between the USS Wyoming and Choshu ships at Shimonoseki took the front page on October 2, 1863. 

Front page of New-York Tribune, October 2, 1863

 

But Hall wasn’t just reporting about the events of the day. Part travel-writer, part anthropologist, he crafted vivid descriptions of the culture and landscape of Japan as well. His articles contain accounts of festivals, children’s games, earthquakes, firefighters, snow-capped peaks, terrible storms, bustling cityscapes, and government surveillance. Here, Hall describes the port city of Hakodate in an article from December 29, 1860:

It is well built after the Japanese way, with spacious streets of two rods in width, laid out with regularity, well sewered and kept clean by daily and repeated sweepings. The houses differ from those to the southward in few respects. A large number of them are weather-boarded with broad strips of bark placed vertically...Tiled and thatched roofs are mostly supplanted by shingle roofs, and these neither pegged or nailed down, but secured by stones from a child’s to a man’s head in bigness. The aspect of continuous roofs of the streets, when viewed from an eminence, is that of a Vermont sheep pasture for stoniness.

Hall left Japan on July 5, 1866, a much richer man than when he arrived. In addition to his work for the newspaper, he had become an agent for and, later, co-owner of Walsh, Hall & Co., an export company specializing in tea and silks. Even though he sold his shares before returning to Elmira, he continued to remain in contact with his various Japanese friends and business associates. He also kept an extensive collection of Japanese art and artifacts in his home at 213 College Avenue. In fact, until his death in 1902, he was known locally as Japanese Frank Hall.

 

Japanese art in Hall's home at 213 College Ave

While we here at CCHS have a good-sized collection of papers from Hall’s business and estate, we do not have his journals from his time in Japan. Those are held by the Cleveland Library’s John G. White Collection of Orientalia. In 2001, the diaries were annotated and published as Japan Through American Eyes: The Journal of Francis Hall, 1859-1866, edited by F.G. Notehelfer. We have 2 copies if anyone is interested in reading.

Lilacs in Sapporo

by Erin Doane, curator

Every year since 1959, the city of Sapporo, Japan has held a lilac festival in downtown Odori Park. What, you may ask, does that have to do with Chemung County? Well, if not for the efforts of Elmira missionary Sarah Clara Smith, there would be no reason to celebrate. Smith brought the first lilacs to Sapporo from the United States in 1889.

Sarah Clara Smith

Sarah Smith was born in Painted Post on March 24, 1851 and grew up in Elmira. She attended the Elmira Academy before going on to Brockport to become a teacher. After graduating, she returned to Elmira and taught at Diven Elementary School for several years. She may have continued her career as a local school teacher if not for the sudden death of her brother, who was an evangelical pastor. His death caused her to reevaluate her path in life.

Smith was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Elmira. Rev. G.W. Knox was the son of the pastor at the church and was involved in missionary work in Japan. Rev. Knox told Smith about a newly established women’s seminary in Tokyo that was looking for female missionaries to join the staff. He was willing to recommend her for the position if she was interested. Encouraged by the memories of her deceased brother, Smith gave up her job and life in Elmira to become a missionary.

In the fall of 1880, Sarah Smith arrived in Tokyo, Japan. While she enjoyed her work, she was not well-suited to the region’s climate. The excessive dampness caused her to suffer from severe rheumatic problems. Her doctor recommended that she return home but she refused. Instead, she moved north to Hokkaido, which had a much dryer climate. Smith taught private English and Bible classes in Hakodate, a port city in Hokkaido, as she convalesced. In 1886, she took a position as an English teacher at a new school in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido.

Smith’s two great passions in life were religion and education and she was determined to bring both to her new home. On January 15, 1887, she opened her own private school – Sumisu Jogakko or Smith’s Girls’ School – as the first girls’ school in Sapporo. The Governor of Hokkaido gave her permission to use a small stable as a classroom and she used her salary from her job as an English teacher to fund the school. She started out with just seven students. In 1894, the school relocated and expanded. Its name was changed to Hokusei Gakuen or Northern Star Women’s School, inspired by a Bible verse, Philippians 2:15: “shine like stars, in a dark world.” Hokusei Gakuen still exists today as a four-year private university.

For nearly 45 years, Sarah Smith provided a Christian education to girls in Sapporo. Her efforts, however, were not without controversy. There was a significant Christian population in the area when she arrived and her goal was to see her students, “the future mothers of Japan, safe in the Christian faith.” Yet, many of the girls faced opposition from home to conversion. In a letter from Smith to the Ladies of the Foreign Missionary Society of Chemung Presbytery in 1907, she wrote that many parents said that when their daughter is of age she may do as she likes but gave various reasons for not permitting her to become a Christian yet. That same year, the Emperor’s birthday fell on a Sunday, the day of rest. The school celebrated on Monday and subsequently received a letter of censure for having honored God before the Emperor. There was talk in government offices about closing the school but no punishment was imposed. In fact, in 1923, Smith was awarded the Imperial Decoration of the Order of Sacred Treasure for meritorious civil service by the Japanese government.

Sarah Smith wearing the Imperial Decoration

of the Order of Sacred Treasure

The Foreign Missionary Society, and in particular the Chemung Presbytery, provided support through the years to Smith’s school. They donated money and materials and helped to spread news of her work by sharing letters she regularly wrote to the organization. Smith returned to the United States several times. During these visits she would speak at events held by the Women’s Missionary Society in Elmira. After a visit in 1899, she returned to Sapporo with 200 dolls given to her by the Society to distribute as Christmas gifts to her students. Every one of the dolls made it through the long passage without any damage. 

Ten years earlier in 1889, Sarah Smith brought lilac seedling back with her from a visit home. She planted the trees at her school and over time, they naturalized and spread throughout the region. During World War II, most of the lilacs were cut down because of their origins from the United States, a hostile nation. A few did survive including one that was preserved at the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden, the second oldest botanical garden in Japan. In 1960, the lilac tree was designated the official tree of Sapporo.

Sarah Smith spent 51 years of her life in Japan. She finally returned to the United States for good in 1931 at the age of 80. She passed away on February 18, 1947 at the age of 95 in Pasadena, California.